by DeNeen L. Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer

Photo by Michael S. Williamson/Washington Post

Gentrification was the subject the students in the Young Playwrights' Theater were assigned to tackle and make into a play. Some students had never heard of the word, although they were living in the midst of it, walking through it each school day in Columbia Heights where their after-school program on playwriting is located. Watching stores go up and trees come down, and neighbors disappearing and new people coming in and the bright lights of Target and Best Buy replacing dingy old buildings. At least some people thought they were dingy.

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On February 22, 2010 YPT presented: The Heights of Change as part of its New Writers Now! series.

Photos by Liz Lynch.

Click on the image to view details for any photo. You can also view all of our photo albums on our main photo page.  

How can theater help us bridge the gentrification gap? 

Young playwrights explore rapid change in an urban neighborhood. How can a community grow while honoring its past? How can the needs of long-time residents be balanced against the desires of newcomers?  Join us for an evening of original plays by student playwrights. The Heights of Change

is presented as part of YPT’s New Writers Now series of student plays performed in a staged reading by professional actors, followed by community discussion. 

  

6:15 PM  Reception
7:00 PM Performance

GALA Hispanic Theatre
3333 14th Street NW
Washington DC 20010

During the fall of 2009, YPT worked with over 580 students at 12 schools. Together they completed over 450 plays. Thirty-two of these plays were recommended for the reading committee, made up of professional theater artists.  Eight have been chosen for the annual New Play Festival to be held on April 19, 20 and 21st at GALA Hispanic Theatre.  We congratulate these eight students and look forward to sharing more about them in the coming months. 

• Mariana’s Wish by Mariana Pavon
  (Wakefield High School)
  
  
• Altador(k) by Eduardo Reyes
  (Bell Multicultural High School)
   
• Daft Desire by Kenrry Alvarado
  (Bell Multicultural High School)
   
• Going Down the Evolution Ladder by Brenda Reyes
  (Banneker High School) 
   
• The Art or Science of Sign Flipping by Becky Koretz
  (Wilson High School)
  
  
• Viordanna and the Knight by Melissa Joskow
  (H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program)
  
  
• 3434 by Kalia Snowden
  (Wilson High School)
  
  
• Love Math and Martians Don’t Mix by Cassidy Boomsma
  (Swanson Middle School)

Young Playwrights’ Theater is proud to announce that we have been chosen by a panel of 90 expert reviewers for inclusion in the 2009 – 2010 Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington.

YPT has had an eventful fall season, with more programming and performances than ever before.  If you’d like to relive your favorite YPT moments, or get a view to what you’ve missed then take a peek at our photo albums.

To view photo albums from our fall performances click here,
or visit our Flickr photostream. 

Young Playwrights’ Theater is proud to premiere our new documentary! This film captures the magic that occurs in YPT workshops, and the thrill of YPT performances. You can hear directly from YPT staff, teaching artists, actors and students whose lives have been changed by learning to express themselves clearly and creatively through the art of playwriting. 

It was created by filmmaker Ken Chalk over a year of filming throughout the DC Area.  At just under ten minutes long, it is an ideal way to share the magic of YPT with your friends and family. Watch the video and then forward it to a friend, colleague or potential playwright. Help us spread the message to the next generation of playwrights!  

To download a printable two-page flier about Young Playwrights’ Theater click here.

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"I was excited. I just kept being like ’Oh wow. Wow. Wow. Oh,’" says Kalia Snowden of the moment she learned that her play was chosen to be part of YPT’s New Play Festival. "I had a wowzer moment," she says.
 
Kalia is in the 9th grade at Wilson High School. She lives in Adams Morgan with her grandmother and brother.
 
Her play 3434 depicts a futuristic world in which science has rendered women and girls unnecessary and illegal.  "Usually, I’m the actress not the playwright. I was just thinking about the most snooty role, to the point that there’s no arguing that you’re the star," she explains. "Then I was like, ’What if I was the only girl in the play? What if I was the only girl in the WORLD?’"